Responsibility
by ryeman200
Summary: My newer version of my re-telling of Spider-Man. I don't own Spider-Man, or any other Marvel characters. Rated T for safety.


Responsibility: Chapter One

[Narration]

"Some say power comes from hard work. Others: Selfish acts. Me? It was an accident. This is my story, my blessing, and curse..."

The sun shone over Manhattan, gleaming over the tall buildings, and small houses. It was the first day of a new school year. Students everywhere were excited for their first day of High School. All except one.

A young teen, one who wasn't very strong, athletic, or anything above the scale of popularity. He was an outcast, with really only one friend. He was awoken from his slumber to the sound of an alarm clock.

His eyes widened, as he jumped out of bed after seeing the time.

"I'm late! I can't be late for the first day of High School!" He started rushing around, as he found clean clothes hung on his door, by his Aunt.

You must be wondering: "Aunt? Doesn't he live with his parents?". Well, to answer that, he was orphaned at a young age, after a so-called car crash. His Aunt & Uncle were his only known family, and were more than happy to bring him in.

Rushing down the stairs, he only had a glimpse of his Aunt, as he ran outside, whilst grabbing his bag. He had just made it to the bus stop, as the doors opened. He was the last one on. As usual. Always being pushed back, and stepped on.

Luckily: there was always someone that saved a seat for him. His best friend: Harry Osbourn. They've been friends ever since he could remember, and they always had each others backs.

"Late up, again I presume?" Harry spoke, as the teen sat down.

"What do you think? My alarm never goes off at the right time... "

"Hey, you should get a new alarm."

"My Uncle Ben can just about put food on the table. Nevermind a new alarm clock. We can't all have a billionaire dad, Harry. Not everyone is the son of Norman Osbourn."

"Yeah... Sorry Pete. I keep forgetting you're not the richest of kids."

"It's fine, Harry. Let's just get this day over with, and hope I don't run into Flash." Just as he said his name, the bus stopped, a loud-mouthed, blond-headed jockey stepped onto the bus.

"Look who it his! Oh, Puny Parker! I was just thinking about you!" The brute yelled, gesturing a fist towards the teen in question.

"Speak of the Devil..." He sighed, as Flash came up to him, and sat exactly behind them.

"What do you want, Flash?" Peter asked, already knowing his answer.

"Can't a guy just sit in a seat, without being accused of anything?" Flash put his arms up defensively, and pretended to look innocent.

"Just... Don't talk to us. We don't exactly like people like you." Harry butted in.

"What's that supposed to mean? The only thing stopping me from pounding your face in, is your dad."

"You're gonna regret being a bully. You'll probably go too far, and get yourself arrested." Flash scoffed at Harry's words.

"Yeah, right. You're just jealous that I'm popular, and you two aren't."

"Just leave it, Harry. He isn't worth it." Peter said, as they arrived thru the gates.

Harry settled down as the bus parked, and then everone made their way out.

As they exited the bus, they were greeted by the Principle, and given their timetable for the new year.

Making their way thru the front doors, both Peter & Harry were amazed at the size of the building. The corridors were like a maze, with students as the mice. Each of them were assigned a locker. Once they found their lockers, which were conveniently next to each other, the two put their unneeded books & other equipment in, as they made their way to first period; it was Maths.

Entering the classroom, Peter and Harry sat on opposite desks, so they wouldn't be targeted separately. They weren't too worried, as long as Flash wasn't in any of their classes.

Their hopes died, as the blond-haired jockey noisily came in with his 'friends'.

"Just what I needed..." Peter sarcastically spoke to himself.

"Parker! What a pleasant surprise this is." Peter buried his head in his desk. "We're gonna have so much fun together."

"This is going to be a loooonngg day..." Peter moaned, as the new teacher entered the classroom.

"Good morning, everyone. My name is Mr James; I hope we can all become good friends, by the end of the semester." Mr James announced, as the whole class was watching him.

"Seeing as this is the first day, we could get to know each other by introducing yourselves to everyone. You don't have to speak up if you don't want to." Mr James was hoping to make a good first impression. So far, it was going well.

"I'll go up." Flash volunteered, rather excitedly; like... He was planning something.

"Very well. Please come up, and introduce yourself." As Flash barged past Peter, he 'accidentally' knocked Peter; knocking his glasses off onto the table.

When Peter re-equipped his glasses, Flash was at the front, and started boasting about his achievements.

"I've won multiple awards for Football, Basketball, Dodgeball... you name it! Also..." Peter had already heard his 'achievements' many times, and was sick of hearing them. So, instead, he was paying more attention to the outside world, and sighed deeply.

"Why can't I just be free? Like those birds, out there..." Flash had finished his speech, and some others came up to talk.

After all the introductions, the actual lesson started.

"Okay, now that we've gotten to know each other a little more, we should start the first topic for this semester."

Once the new books were handed out, and the names & subject was filled in, Mr James began to speak again.

"The topic for this semester will be Proportions. Does anyone here know what proportions are?" As he scanned the room, only one hand was up.

"Yes, can you explain to the class what we mean by 'Proportions'?"

"Well, Proportion is relative to the size of an object. Take an object, which is small, yet strong. Its proportional strength would be A LOT larger for something the same size, but not as durable." Mr James was about to stop Peter, by he kept on going. "But if you multiply the the size of the object, but keep the proportions, the strength of the object would be multiplied by the amount it grew."

"N... Nice explanation, Peter. I don't think I really need to add anything else to that..." He was surprise by Peter's intelligence for a 13 year old.

By the end of 1st period, Peter felt like High School wasn't going to be that hard. Well the lessons, anyway...

"Hey, Pete! How did you know all that? I mean, I know you're smart and all... But you got every question right! Mr James ran out of work for you to do!" Harry was impressed. Although he's known Peter to be a whiz when it comes to numbers, he was surprised by how fast he figured it all out.

"It's just simple knowledge of the times tables. You just have to times each number-" He was then interrupted by Flash.

"Hey, Parker! Because you were all number freak, Mr James set us Homework to try and catch up on the work you did! You KNOW how much I HATE homework!"

"It's not my fault I found the work easy! I DO have an IQ of 155! By the way: that's technically classed as genius!"

"Oh, now you're bragging about how smart you are! BIG surprise! Why don't you go celebrate with your parents? Oh, that's right! You don't have any!" The hallway went silent, after Flash said that. People were staring.

"Don't even go there, Eugene!" Peter retaliated, by saying his first name, which he hated.

"NO ONE CALLS ME EUGENE!" Flash yell, as he threw a punch at Peter's face; knocking him to the ground.

He spat out blood, as and his glasses had smashed on the floor. There were gasps of horror all around him as he tried to get up, but fell back down, from not being able to see where he was going.

"Wow, Flash, that's a bit uncalled for... Even for you!" A 'bulky' guy; one of Flash's 'friends', spoke up.

"Shut it, Kong! Parker was expecting it eventually!" Harry, along with some other students were helping Peter up, and taking him to the nurses office. Peter was trying his hardest not to cry in front of the crowd, and didn't want to seem weak.

Mr James heard the commotion, and as he entered the corridor, he saw Peter being held up, with a giant bruise on his face, that was close to bleeding.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?" He shouted out, and everyone looked at Flash. "THAT'S IT! PRINCIPLE'S OFFICE! NOW!" He saw Peter's glasses on the floor, and picked them up.

Over in the nurses office, Peter was being patched up.

"Okie dokie, now... You're all patched up now. Not the best first day, huh?" The nurse, spoke in a friendly voice.

"I'm used to it..." Peter sighed, shedding a tear.

"The Flash fellow, he was at your previous school?"

"Yes..."

"And this type of stuff he did on a regular basis?"

"Yes..."

Over in the Principle's office, The Principle was sitting at a desk, and watching Flash, rather disapointed.

"Knocked a boy to the ground and made him bleed. Not even two hours of being here... You've already come close to being excluded. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"He called me by my first name-" He was interrupted.

"And that gave you a right to punch him? Knowing full well that you're a lot stronger than him?"

"I... I... No..."

"Exactly. You'd better clean up you act, because you're already hanging on a thin thread."

"How do I do that?" Flash asked, hoping he could control himself.

"It seems you have a lot of anger and frustration, which you let out through violence. Why is that?"

"P... Promise not to tell anyone?" He looked at the floor, rather sadly.

"That depends. How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad..."

Back with Peter, the nurse was having a big discussion.

"Would you say your life at home is good?" The nurse asked, as Peter responded.

"Yeah, both my Aunt May & Uncle Ben try their best at raising me, and make sure I'm safe."

"And how do you think Flash's life at home is like?" Peter shrugged his shoulders.

"Do you think Flash's life at home isn't very good, and is jealous of your caring Aunt & Uncle?" Peter thought for a second.

"I guess that's a possibility... But I doubt it."

Flash had been quiet for five minutes, until he spoke.

"I'm jealous of Peter..."

"What are you jealous of him for?"

"He's smart, has a loving family, he's so good at persuading people... Then there's me: stupid, headstrong, and..." He paused. He couldn't say the next words.

"And...? What's the other thing?" He was getting concerned now. "Is something happening at home?"

"My parents are rarely ever around... When they are, my mom is either cursing at the tv, or getting drunk..."

"And your father?"

"He always comes home drunk... If I get in his way... He usually ends up holding me down and... B... Beating me..." The Principle was shocked at what he just said. He then sighed.

"We need to get the Authorities involved. You are not safe there." Flash knew it was for the best, but was scared on what would happen to him if he has to leave home.

"It's been going on since I can remember... I took out all my frustration onto Peter... I need to apologise to him..."

"This will all be over soon. I promise."

Peter had missed second period, and it was time for break.

Peter, Harry, and the two others that brought Peter to the nurses office, were all hanging out.

The first one was a blond haired, medium sized girl with bright blue eyes.

The second one was a slightly muscular, brown haired male, a year older than Peter, but only taller by half an inch.

"Doing alright without glasses, Pete?" Harry asked, as he almost tripped over a couple times.

"Other than I'm practically blind, I'm doing just fine!" Peter could only see blur, but still tried to stay independent.

"If you need help, just ask." The brown haired person explained.

"I don't need help. I just need new glasses." He tried rubbing his eyes, but nothing helped. "If I can't see you, could you a least tell me your names?"

"Sure, my name is Gwen Stacey. My dad's the chief of the NYPD, and this is Eddie Brock. He's a bit obsessed with taking photos..." Peter lightened up.

"You're in to Photography too?" Peter asked, excited about another photographst.

"I run an after school club for the school newspaper. You're very welcome to join."

"That'd be great, thanks!" Peter was amazed how fast he was gaining friends. It felt good, to know he wasn't going to be the unpopular one again.

_**I know it's not a very long chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it!**_

_**Next chapter will be set a month later, when everything is steady in Peter's life.**_

_**Don't forget to Review, Fav & Follow! **_


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